Batty blow for Surrey T20 finals day

Surrey head to Edgbaston to challange Hampshire but do so without one of their key players

Surrey say they are resigned to being without Gareth Batty for Saturday's Friends Life T20 finals day.

The 35-year-old off-spinner has been banned by the ECB after his mid-pitch altercation with Somerset’s Peter Trego in last week’s quarter-final.

Gerard Elias, chairman of the board’s disciplinary commission, labelled the incident as “appalling”, suspending acting captain Batty for “inappropriate and deliberate physical contact” on the pitch and using insulting or obscene language. He was reported by all three umpires.

Unusually, instead of suspending the player for the next two available matches – the YB40 games against Derbyshire on Sunday and on Thursday night at Hampshire – the ban covers two T20 matches, using discretionary powers.

Elias, who chose to deal with the matter in summary manner rather than holding a hearing, stressed that the penalty was more severe as Batty was captain and was expected to lead by example, accusing him of a “foul-mouthed tirade”.

That put him out of this weekend's semi-final – also against Hampshire – at Edgbaston, plus the final if Surrey get that far.

As there is no right of appeal, Batty – who has apologised for his language but denied there was any deliberate physical contact – maintained the players collided.

He had no right of appeal although Surrey – who accepted his behaviour was unacceptable – have been making representations on behalf of the player.

'Abide by regulations'

Chief executive Richard Gould commented: “There is no formal right of appeal. We have issued a paper to the ECB suggesting constructive changes which could be made to the process, which they will consider in their own time.

“Gareth has also written a personal letter to Gerard Elias apologising for his language but suggesting there was no deliberate physical contact.

“The regulations allow for a large amount of discretion and in the club’s view a large amount of discretion was used in this case.”

As to whether legal action might have been taken by Surrey as a last resort, he responded: “We are not aware of any legal recourse that would have been available – we sign the ECB regulations and so abide by them.

“I don’t think it would have been in the interests of cricket to go beyond that.”

It might have also made for a very frosty few days when the England hierarchy arrive at The Oval next week for the final Ashes Test, which begins on Wednesday.

Batty is highly regarded at The Oval, having taken over from Rory Hamilton-Brown after the Tom Maynard tragedy last year and then again this year after new skipper Graeme Smith was invalided home.

Always feisty on the pitch – in contrast to a relaxed character off it – taking charge in difficult circumstances appears to have increased his aggression.

As one of Surrey’s leading bowlers, his ability to tie down the best players will certainly be missed, with Vikram Solanki likely to take charge.

'Potential match-winner'

A request for the services of Kevin Pietersen on finals day was turned down by England, nervous about the fragile state of his knee, but all-rounder Glenn Maxwell – who played six matches earlier in the tournament, albeit to little effect – is flying in after finishing an Australian A tour in South Africa and will in part offset Batty’s absence.

“Glenn has done very well for the A team and he’s a potential match-winner, along with four or five other players,” said Gould.

Jade Dernbach is Surrey’s leading wicket-taker with 16 scalps and has produced superbly controlled slower balls at vital times in the final overs of innings.

Veteran all-rounders Azhar Mahmood (13) and Zander de Bruyn (12) have both wickets and runs at crunch moments to their names as well while openers Steven Davies (263) and Jason Roy (272) will be regarded as dangermen by opposition bowling attacks.

An increasingly potent force though has been Gary Wilson (211) down the order, charged with ticking over the score in the middle overs and then exploding at the end.

The 27-year-old Irishman’s growing importance to the team was marked on Sunday when he was one of five players presented with second team caps – Rory Burns, Roy, Arun Harinath and Tim Linley the others – before smashing a remarkable 85 to beat Derbyshire.

In his seventh season on the county staff, Wilson is finally enjoying the benefits of patience and hard work in becoming a regular member of the side.

He said: “It’s been very pleasing to play in every game bar one and I feel I’ve had the backing of the coaches more this year.

“To feel you are a mainstay of the side gives you a lot more responsibility – my role for two or three years in the T20 has been to bat through the middle overs and then accelerate. Sometimes it comes off and sometimes it doesn’t.”

Relegation battle

By the time Surrey play Hampshire on Saturday they will know whether Northants or Essex await the winners in the final - but getting over the first hurdle will be tough enough, champions Hampshire having already beaten them twice this season.

“Whoever you play on finals day is going to be a hard game but I think we’ve come up under the radar a bit,” said Wilson. “We’re on pretty good roll at the moment so who knows what might happen.”

Whatever does occur, Surrey will quickly have to turn their attentions back to the main business of the summer – the LV County Championship, where they lie next to bottom in Division One and yet to record a win in 10 matches.

In what looks a three-cornered fight for survival involving Somerset and Derbyshire, a trip to fourth-placed Durham starting next Thursday will see the debut of South African maestro Hashim Amla.

The 30-year-old will be available for the final six LVCC matches and can resume a love affair with The Oval started by his unbeaten 311 against England there last year.

Amla follows Smith and Ricky Ponting as big name signings – replacing JP Duminy, whose international commitments took him out of consideration – but interim boss Alec Stewart stressed that he would be looking for an increased effort from all rather than relying on Amla, one of the world’s finest strokemakers.

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She has been editorial director of the online and print titles in Surrey and north-east Hampshire since 2007. Marnie previously worked at the BBC as a producer for 5 Live, having moved to national radio from BBC Sussex and Surrey.